News

Registration Opens for Third International Conference on Information and Religion

Posted Mar. 20, 2013

Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) Partners with American Theological Library Association (ATLA) for Third Annual Conference

The Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) at Kent State University will host its Third Annual International Conference on Information and Religion on June 19-22 in Charlotte, N.C., in conjunction with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) 2013 Annual Conference. CSIR participants will have the opportunity to take full advantage of the ATLA and CSIR sessions and activities at a reduced registration rate of $200; registration instructions are on the CSIR conference Web page: http://www.kent.edu/slis/research/csir/annual-conference-on-information-and-religion.cfm.

The conference will be held in the Westin Charlotte hotel: http://www.westincharlottehotel.com/. The price for a room is $159 single/double plus the applicable taxes (for reservations: https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/atla).The conference rate expires Friday, May 17, 2013. The nearest airport is Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). From the airport, a cab to the hotel is $25 each way.

“The Social Construction of Religious Knowledge,” this year's conference theme, is explored in more than 20 papers and posters, covering such topics as defining and interpreting data and information in the understanding of religious knowledge; the role of sermons in the social construction of knowledge; the construction of shared knowledge between different faith traditions; the social contexts of religious knowledge; preserving and making available religious texts and information objects associated with the construction of religious knowledge; social uses and appropriations made of these texts and objects; information in its application to clergy and congregations as communities of practice; faith and many types of intelligence (e.g., emotional intelligence, intellectual capital, etc.); the application of academic theory in the understanding of religious knowledge; intersections of interests in the study of information and religion, where different disciplines might find it worthwhile to collaborate in research.

Keynote speaker for this year’s conference is Peter Ochs, Ph.D., Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia, and founding editor of the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/ssr/). Ochs holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a Ph.D. from Yale University. His research addresses three primary subjects: the relation of contemporary Jewish thought to the classical biblical and rabbinic sources; relations among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions of scriptural interpretation; and relations among contemporary religious, philosophic and scientific reasoning. He is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and monographs, including Another Reformation: Postliberal Christianity and the Jews (2011), The Free Church and Israel’s Covenant (2010) and Crisis, Call and Leadership in the Abrahamic Traditions(ed. Peter Ochs and Stacy Johnson, 2009).

CSIR participants also have full access to all ATLA sessions, including keynote addresses by William H. Willimon, former dean of the Chapel at Duke University and a retired bishop in the United Methodist Church, most recently serving in the North Alabama Conference, and Joan Frye Williams, library consultant and futurist.

Willimon is considered by many as one of America's best-known and most influential preachers. He has written more than 50 books, including Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the 7 Deadly Sins (2013), A Will to Lead and the Grace to Follow (2011), and Why Jesus? (2010). He is editor-at-large of The Christian Century.

Williams specializes in library strategies, technologies, innovative practices and the future of community-focused library services. Her clients include libraries of all types and sizes, library consortia, state library agencies, professional associations and elected bodies such as city councils and boards of supervisors. She has contributed to Library Journal, American Libraries, and Library Technology Reports. Recent areas of focus include libraries in a post-print world, future-proofing your library and top tech trends for the non-technical.

CSIR was created in 2009 in Kent State's School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) to facilitate research on the various institutions and agents of religion and their effect on social knowledge through the use and dissemination of information. Don A. Wicks, Ph.D., SLIS associate professor, serves as director of the center. Daniel Roland, Ph.D., is the primary researcher. CSIR hosts an annual conference on information and religion, as well an annual symposium. For more information, visit www.kent.edu/slis/research/csir/index.cfm.

Kent State offers the only Master of Library and Information Science degree program in Ohio that is accredited by the American Library Association, and one of the nation's few master's degrees in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management. The school is recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation's top 20 graduate schools and is one of the largest library schools in the country. Visit www.kent.edu/slis for more information.